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CARNOUSTIE. – They say the key to a good score around Carnoustie is to make your birdies on the first 14 holes then hang on.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth managed the first part yesterday, but failed miserably with the second, leaking four shots in his final four holes to slide back into the pack with a disappointing one-over 72.

Two birdies in his opening four holes offered early promise for the American at the British Open but even with fickle Scottish weather in relatively benevolent mood he discovered the sprawling old course still packs a punch.

The 24-year-old double-bogeyed the par-four 15th after suffering what he described as a “brain fart”, bogeyed the brutal par-three 16th and then leaked another shot on the last after driving his tee shot into Barry Burn.

“Felt like a missed opportunity,” three-time major champion Spieth, who has had an up and down year by his standards, told reporters.

“I felt like I was really going well. I was putting the ball where I needed to. It was a clean round of golf, just the decision-making that’s cost me.

“But the misses towards the end were the exact misses that I’ve been having and I’m working away from. My swing just didn’t quite hold up to the end of my round.”

It all began to go wrong on the 15th where he played conservatively off the tee and then hit his second shot into the face of a deep bunker, giving him an impossible shot. He could only play out sideways and ended up with a six.

“I just had a brain fart, and I missed it into the location where there was the only pot bunker where I could actually get in trouble, and it plugged deep into it,” he said.

“It was a really, really poor decision on the second shot, and that cost me.” – SuperSport.